Plumb the hidden depths of spring’s deep-sky by seeking out 3C 273, the optically-brightest quasi-stellar object (QSO) in the constellation of Virgo. Quasars are the intensely luminous centres of very distant and active galaxies, powered by a supermassive black hole. And don’t worry that you need a huge ‘scope to see it – a 15-cm (6-inch) instrument and a clear, moonless night are all you need.

Using light from ancient quasars, researchers probing quantum entanglement have virtually closed one possible loophole in a key theorem of quantum physics, finding strong support for what Einstein called ‘spooky action at a distance.’

Astronomers discover a huge cluster of galaxies ‘hidden in plain sight’ in the glare of a quasar and its voracious central black hole, raising the possibility the universe contains more mass than previously suspected

Astronomers have found a brilliant quasar harbouring a super-massive black hole some 13 billion light years away, one of the most distant ever discovered, providing a tool of sorts to study conditions in the very early Universe.

Australian astronomers have found one of the fastest-growing super-massive black holes in the known universe, a monster 20-billion-solar-mass quasi-stellar object consuming the equivalent of the Sun’s mass every two days.